Azkaban Child
by Sugar Junky Freakazoid
Summary: Harry was raised in Azkaban by Sirius. Abandoned and now taken over by Evil Older Sister. Find it on her account.
1. A Visit From the Minister

**Hi everyone! I've had this idea in my mind for a long while now, and knew I would one day write it. I wasn't planning on posting it for a long, long time yet though, not until at least after I finished _Hogwarts: the Slytherin Way,_ but I got a review from someone who really seemed to like the idea of it, so here it is. And it's definitely different from other fics where Sirius raises Harry**

**Disclaimer for all chapters: I do not own Harry Potter so please don't sure.**

**Summary: Just by changing one event in time you can alter all of history. Well, let's say Hagrid did give Harry to Sirius. This is what I believe could have happened. Very different from all of the other versions of this sort of thing I've read.**

_**Azkaban Child**_

_**Chapter one - Visit from the Minister**_

Sirius Black watched as his Godson, five year old Harry Potter, tossed and turned in his sleep, and felt a pang of guilt at all that had happened. He could hardly believe that the Ministry had done this to Harry four years before and he still could not today.

Just over fourteen years prior a Dark wizard, who went by the name of Voldemort, had started looking for followers. He got them too, a couple of which being Sirius' own brother and cousin who had joined for what Voldemort had represented. Some had joined out of fear of what he might have done had he refused, and others joined for the power that they believed Voldemort could give them.

They had been dark days; no one truly knew who could be trusted. Nobody dared to get friendly with any strangers, not knowing whether or not that person bore the dark mark, Voldemort's brand, and would betray you to their Lord without so much as a second thought. Voldemort had been taking over by using the same technique that Hitler had - racism against one main group of people, in Voldemort's case Muggles and Muggleborns.

Of course, there had been wizards that had stood up to Voldemort. They were killed, in some of the most horrible ways imaginable. One of the only safe places left in the world was considered to be Hogwarts. Many people reckoned that Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, was the only person Voldemort had been afraid of. It was said that Voldemort didn't dare to try taking Hogwarts. Well, at least not then.

Harry's mother and father, Lily and James, had been to of the nicest people anyone could meet, and were a good witch and wizard to boot. They had even been Head Boy and Girl at Hogwarts when they had been at school together! It was actually a mystery why Voldemort hadn't tried to get them on his side beforehand... he had probably known that they were too close to Dumbledore to want anything to do with the Dark Side.

Maybe Voldemort had thought he could have persuaded them... maybe he had just wanted them out of the way. But all anyone knew was that he had turned up in the village where Lily, James and Harry had been living on Halloween, just four years ago. he went to their house and he killed them.

Voldemort had killed Lily and James that night, both with the Avada Kedavra, and then, this being the real kicker in the story, he failed to kill Harry. Voldemort had probably just wanted to make a clean job of the whole thing, or maybe he had just liked killing so much as that point that he tried to kill Harry with the same curse that had killed Harry's mum and dad. Somehow, and no one was quite sure the reason behind it, the curse bounced back at Voldemort, all but killing him, and leaving nothing but a lightning shaped cut on his forehead.

And so Harry had become famous that day, that fateful Halloween night during which his parents were brutally murdered.

So there Sirius and Harry were, locked up inside a cell in Azkaban, and had been since just a few days after Voldemort's defeat. Why? The answer to that was simple. The answer to that was the Ministry of Magic.

The Ministry of Magic was the government of the wizarding world, and they made all of the important decisions that were to be made, and that included imprisoning their own saviour.

You see, Sirius had gone to Godric's Hollow on the night that Voldemort had been defeated by Harry after discovering that Peter had left his hiding place, only to find he had been far too late. Lily and James were dead, and Harry had survived with naught but a lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

Sirius hadn't been the only on to arrive, though. He had arrived only mere moments after Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, who had been ordered by Albus Dumbledore to collect Harry. Sirius could still remember the conversation they had had as if it were yesterday.

"_Hagrid, please!" Sirius begged. "Lily and James named me Harry's guardian should anything happen to them!"_

"_I can't give 'im to yer, S'rius!" Hagrid had looked torn only moments earlier, but now appeared far more resolved than Sirius had ever seen him before. "Pr'fessor Dumbledore's told me ter take 'im to 'is Aunt an' Uncles!"_

_Sirius gasped in shock. How could Dumbledore even consider sending Harry to those - those - words failed Sirius when he tried to come up with ways to describe them! They were like a poster muggle family for the pureblood mania!_

"_Lily's sister?!" Sirius almost yelled at the giant of a man in disbelief. "She and her husband hate magic! If Harry goes there he probably won't live to see five!"_

_Hagrid still looked unsure. On the one hand Sirius definitely had a point. Lily's sister honestly hated magic more than anything else in the world, so much so that it was bordering on insanity. On the other hand, Dumbledore had stopped him from being sent to Azkaban when he had been expelled, and had convinced the previous headmaster to allow him to stay on as gamekeeper. Finally, Hagrid relented._

"_Fine, S'rius," Hagrid heaved a sigh. "But you can 'plain ter Dumbledore why you don't want l'il 'Arry livin' wi' those muggles."_

_Sirius smiled his thanks at the giant, and stepped forwards to accept the sleeping child. As he touched Harry, Sirius was hit with a feeling of warmth, like a warm breeze had just hit him, very like how it had felt when he had received his first wand. He was so happy! He could raise Harry as he should be raised! Granted, he should have been raised with Lily and James... But..._

"_Sirius Orion Black, you are under arrest for the betrayal and assisted murder of Lily and James Potter. You have the right to remain silent..."_

_Crap, Sirius thought. He had been so happy at the thought of allowing Harry to grow up happy, something which almost certainly wouldn't have happened had the Dursleys taken Harry, he hadn't even noticed that a whole lot of aurors had shown up._

"_Auror Smith is approaching you, hand over the child to him or we shall have to use force."_

_He looked at the Auror who was approaching him now. He was surprisingly fat and old for an auror, and Sirius knew he could take him on. However, there was a lot more aurors, and it was at a time when violence would not solve anything. Silently he handed over Harry, only to collapse, screaming in agony. Briefly he heard Harry screaming too, and the yells of the Aurors for Smith to give Harry back to him._

"_What did you do to Harry Potter?" snarled the Auror who had spoken the first after Sirius had been given Harry back._

"_Noth-" Sirius cut himself off. Something had just occurred to him. "I think I may have bonded with him."_

After that the Aurors had arrested him, and, not knowing what else to do, allowed Harry to stay with him prevent both saviour and prisoner from immense pain. It had later been proven that it was true what Sirius thought, and that he had bonded with Harry. However, Sirius knew that the Ministry had been faced with a dilemma that day. They couldn't very well let someone whom they believed to be a Death Eater loose, but they also could not send him to Azkaban, away from Harry. So they came up with a solution, one they believed to be ideal at the time: Harry would go to Azkaban with Sirius.

It was far from a perfect solution, and many of the problems in it were still being worked out. Nevertheless, it was basically the only one the Ministry had believed available.

And that led up to that exact moment in time. Dementors were ordered to nearly never visit the cell, for fear that their effect would drive the wizarding world's saviour into the safe arms of insanity, but they still did every now and again. Oh well, it was still fortunate that they stayed away most of the time. Plus their rare, close up presence had allowed both Harry and Sirius to become ever so slightly immune to them

"Sirius Black," shivered one of the human guards of Azkaban, who obviously wasn't used to the dementors presence. Sirius looked up. "The Minister is here to see you."

Sirius nodded and stood up, away from Harry. The dementors grabbed his arms and pulled him out of the cell towards the very small visitors' area where Cornelius Fudge, the newly elected Minister of Magic of Britain, sat impatiently.

"Black," Fudge spat as Sirius was forced down into a chair which bound him the moment he sat. "It seems, we have finally found an ideal solution to the problems regarding young Harry's education."

**A/N: Didn't I tell you all it was different from other versions of where Hagrid gives Harry to Sirius? Didn't I? Okay, so part of it's unlikely to Harry, the whole Ministry sending a baby to Azkaban, especially if that baby was Harry, but it's the whole idea of this story.**

**Anyways, next chapter is Harry going to Diagon Alley and maybe Hogwarts(yes, about a six year time jump, so sue me!)**


	2. Diagon Alley

**Chapter Two - Diagon Alley**

Harry awoke early on the morning of his eleventh birthday. Over the past six years his hair had gotten greasy and his face had become slightly gaunt and thin, though not so much as Sirius was. Speaking of Sirius...

"Oomf!" Sirius woke with a start. "Hey kiddo," he added after getting over the shock.

"Sirius!"

There was a big grin on Harry's face, something which was pretty much new. Rarely did the child smile, though Sirius supposed it may have had something to do with being imprisoned since he was one and rarely being allowed out. But that had phased the child too much as far as Sirius could tell.

"You ready to get taken to Diagon Alley?" Sirius asked, smiling ever so slightly at his Godson's happiness. Harry nodded dutifully, the smile never wavering. Sirius knew this would be a big day for him. It was one of the first days that Sirius knew Harry could remember being off the island. Sirius just wished he could have gone with Harry. Even though over time the magical bond the two shared allowed them to spend more and more time apart without pain, eventually meaning that they would only need to see one another about once a month which would be about when Harry turned twenty, it didn't stopped Sirius wanting to be around Harry as much as possible.

"Yes Sirius," Hary rolled his eyes.

"You positive? Becuase you know you don't have to go today if you really don't want to, right?"

"Yes Sirius," Harry sounded exasperated. "Will you stop fussing over me! I'll be fine!"

"Okay," Sirius sighed, "just be careful."

"I will!" Harry glanced around at the door and saw some of the human guards there. "I'll see you later!"

Sirius watched as Harry walked out, and he really hoped that he would be all right. If he wasn't, someone would pay - dearly.

Harry walked down one of the corridors in Azkaban, his home for the past ten years, more or less, accompanied by a single guard name Mortigan, towards the Governor's office, the only place in the prison that could be flooed to or from. It was almost never used though. Harry felt slightly privileged to be allowed to use it, though he had never used floo before in his life. Why he was allowed to use it, he wasn't quite sure, but he thought it might have something to do with how the only other way out of the prison was by boat, and Harry got seasick pretty easily.

Harry glanced up at Mortigan that was accompanying him to and from the alley. The guard was a friendly enough wizard who hated everyone who was an in-mate, except Harry. Harry wasn't exactly an in-mate, but it was the closest thing that came to describing him. Mortigan smiled when he saw Harry looking at him, then knocked on the Governor's door.

The inside of the room was similar to how it had been two years ago when Harry had last been there. Apparently a riot had broken out then, something rare in the prison, and he had been brought there for his safety. Now dust still covered the desk and the papwork that was upon in. There were also thick layers of dust covering the filing cabinets that were all over the room., as well as on the few picture that were in there, of the Governor's of the prison, past and present.

"Ah, Harry Potter," said the Governor. He was a short old man with white-grey hair, brown eyes and of the no-nonsense type of person. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go on, floo away."

Harry looked at the fireplace nervously. He knew basically what you had to do to floo, but he wasn't too sure.

"Um, sir? I've never used floo before," Harry muttered, trying to keep his eyes off the Governor. He was pretty successful at it too. The Governor growled. He was not only not the type of person who didn't like nonsense, but also hated children and questions.

"You take floo powder, through it in the fire, step into the fire, say where you're going, in this case the Leaky Cauldron, and it takes you there. No go!"

Harry gulped and stumbled quickly over to the fire place. He really did not like the Governor, and the Governor more than returned the feeling. Plus he was scary to boot.

He grabbed a hand full of the glittering floo powder out of the flower pot beside the fire place. Quickly he threw it in, step in after it and yelled out his destination.

Travelling by floo powder made Harry feel as if he was being sucked down something like a plug hole. He was spinning very fast, the sound of something roaring in his ears being deafening. At first he tried to keep his ears open, but gave up as it made him feel far too dizzy. Finally he felt himself beginning to slow down and he shot out of a fire place somewhere he guessed to be the Leaky Cauldron.

When he stood up, he looked around and noticed people staring at him. He probably stood out quite a bit in his dark grey Azkaban prison robes, but they would have to deal with it. After a moment or two every went back their drinks (Harry suddenly noticed that the Leaky Cauldron was a public house) and Mortigan shot out behind him.

"I hate floo powder," Harry heard Mortigan say as he stood up and brushed himself off. "Well, come along Harry."

Mortigan steered Harry through the hustle and bustle of the small pub and out into a small walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a dustbin and a few weeds.The guard took out his wand, tapped on one particular brick (which Harry made sure to note, knowing it could well have some importance later on in life).

The brick he had tapped quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeard that grew wider and wider until a second later they were facing an archway to a cobbled street which twisted and turned out of sight.

"This is Diagon Alley," said Mortigan as he pushed Harry into the crowds of witches and wizards.

As the teo of them were walking down the street Harry felt as if several more heads would be useful so he could look at everything at once. He may have grown up in the wizarding world, but this was an entirely new exerience for him! He had never left the prison, and rarely the cell he shared with Sirius.

There were so many sights, sounds, smells and feelings to take in. There were so many shops, more people than he had ever seen before in his life, far more sound than Azkaban (except, he supposed grimly, when an inmate was screaming) and so many nicer smells. But what Harry felt amazed at most was the feeling of sun on his face. He could not remember it ever having been so warm. It was... wonderful.

The shops they passed seemed each more special and just as good as the last. They passed book shops, sweet shops, joke shops, apothecary's and many, many others. Finally they reached a snowy-white building which towered above all the other little buildings. _'Gringotts' _Harry thought with awe.

Standing in front of the burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniforn of scarlet and gold, was a goblin. It was about the same height as him. The goblin had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feets. He bowed as they walked inside. Now there was another set of doors made of silver this time, with word engraved upon them:

_Enter, stranger, but take heed,  
__Of what awaits, the sin of greed,  
__For those who take but, do not earn,  
__Must pay most dearly in their turn,  
__So if you seek beneatrh out floors a treasure that was never yours,  
__Thief, you have been warned, beware  
__Of finding more than treasure there._

Mortigan hurried Harry past the second set of doors and inside the bank into a vast marble hall. About a hundred or more goblins were sitting on high stools, scribbling in ledgers, weighing coins and examining stones. There were far more doors than Harry could count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Harry and Mortigan made for the counters.

"Good morning," Mortigan said stiffly when they found a free goblin. Harry got the idea that Mortigan didn't like goblins. "Mr Harry Potter requires to withdraw some money from his vault."

"Is he here?" the goblin asked gruffly, and Harry wondered if it was some rule in place that said whoever the vault belonged to needed to be present for withdrawals. The goblin peered over the counter and down at Harry. "So he is, does Mr Potter have his key?"

Mortigan swiftly drew a key out of his pocket and handed it to the goblin. The goblin inspected it closely, and then looked up and nodded.

"This seems to be in order. I will have someone take you down to the vaults. Griphook!"

Griphook was another goblin, a younger looking one, and no sooner than he had arrived Harry and Mortigan followed Griphook out of the hall through one of the many doors.

Griphook held the door open for them and the two of them walked out into narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downwards and there were little railway tracked on the floor. Griphook whilsted and a small cart came hurtling upp the track towards them. They climbed in and were off.

The journey made Harry feel vaguely sick, his body not used to moving at high speeds and quick direction changes. Finally the cart slowed to a stop outside a small door in the passage wall. Harry got out, feeling green, and learnt against the wall, knees trembling slightly. Mortigan had not faired much better.

Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and, as it cleared, Harry's eyes widened at the sight of all the piles of metal - money, Harry quickly reminded himself, having never really been in contact with any. In side there were piles of gold, silver and bronze coins. Mortigan helped him pile some of it into a bag, largely gold coins.

"The gold coins are galleons, the silver are sickles and the bronze knuts. Seventeen sickles to a galleon, twenty-nine knuts to a sickle and four hundred and ninety-three knuts to a galleon," grunted the guard. Harry felt that the last bit of information wasn't entirely necessary, but it might come in some use later on in life, you never could tell. "That should be more than enough for your school supplies, the rest'll be kept safe for you. We should get back up now."

Mortigan turned slightly green at the last statement, and Harry could feel himself turning a similar colour.

One horrid cart-ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts, and Harry for the first time in his memoryfelt lighter than air.

"I can't be baby-sittin' ya all day," Mortigan gruffed. "I'll meet you in the Leakey Cauldron in a few hours. Get your supplies and meet me there when you're done."

Harry nodded as he watched the guard walk off. Pulling out his list, he tried to decide what he would get first. Looking around, he saw that the closest place would be a place that sold trunks, something that he would undoutedly need. He went inside, and, after struggling for a few moments with the money, he bought one slightly larger than average that had a few spells on it that would keep it at a weight the owner could carry easily, no matter what was inside.

Next Harry decided to get his uniform.

The closest shop for robes was _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, _sp he decided to go there. Madam Malkin was a squarm smiling witch dressed in mauve.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she smiled when Harry started to speak. "Got a lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

In the back of the shop a boy with a face almost as pale as Harry's though far pointier was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head and began to pin it to the right length, which was a lot shorter than it was.

"Hullo," said the boy. "Hogwarts too?"

"Yes," Harry muttered, not really feeling interesting. A half moment of silence passed, and then the boy spoke again.

"I noticed the strange attire you wore when you came in. They looked like Azkaban robes, from he pictures I have seen of them."

"That's because they are."

"_Why_ are you wearing Azkaban robes? Is it a terrible fashion statement or something?"

"No, it's because I live there."

The blond boy blinked in confusion, then recognision came to his features. His eyes flicked to Harry's matted forehead and he probably just managed to make out the scar there.

"Harry Potter?" the boy asked him, eyebrows raised.

"So I'm told," Harry replied, not mustering much energy or enthusiasm. "And you are?"

"Draco Malfoy. I expect we shall see one another at Hogwarts this year."

Most probably."

Harry got the feeling that the boy was about to say something more, but was interrupted.

"That's you all done, my dear," and Harry, wanting to get on with the day, hopped off the stool.

Later on in the day, after Harry had got all his school supplies (plus a few extra books, and had had lunch, something that was only ever given out at Azkaban on Christmas Day) save his wand, Harry wandered along the street down to the wand shop. The previous night Sirius had told Harry to visit it for his wand - they sold the best and most powerful.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as Harry stepped inside. It was a tiny place, except for a spindly chair in the corner and the stacks of wand boxes that lined the walls.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice and Harry about jumped out of his skin. An old man was standing before him, wide, pale eyes shining like moons in the gloom of the dusty shop.

"Hello," Harry said awkwardly.

"Ah yes," said the man, Mr Ollivander. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd being seeing you today Mr Potter. That's where..."

Ollivander touched the scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.

"I'm sorry to sa Isold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen and a half inches. Yes, powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... Well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do, I..."

Ollivander trailed off, as if lost in the past for a second, but came right back.

"You, Mr Potter, have had a very, very unusual childhood, I believe," Ollivander seemed to have gotten over his trip down memory lane. "In all likeliness you will have a very unusual wand to match it. Now which is your wand hand?"

Half an hour later later Harry left the shop with a new wand, holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple apparently. It was also the brother wand of Voldemort's.

That fact gave Harry the shivers down his spin. But still, it was his wand, he realised on his way back to the Leakey Cauldron. So what, he thought, as he and Mortigan flooed back to Azkaban. You can't choose who you are related to, he thought as he handed over all the things he had bought that day except the books to the Governor to recieve back on September the first. It made absolutely no difference to the wand, Harry finally thought as he slid into his and Sirius's cells and it was locked as he began to tell Sirius about his day. No difference at all.

**A/N: Wow, I didn't actually think that this would be as popular as it is. I mean, 9 reviews in one chapter is loads for me. Wow. Oh yeah, I have a couple of questions I wanted to ask.**

**First off, what house? You have no idea how clueless I am as to which house Harry should go in. If anyone wants to tell me which house they think he should go in (bearing in mind where he was brought up and who by) it would be greatly appreciated.**

**Second: who should Harry be friends with? Should he be mainly friends with his house, or others? Which individuals as well? I'm just as clueless about that at this minute as I am about his house.**

**Talons: Thanks!**

**Lap: Would you say this was soon?**

**CrazyForYou: The solution's simple enough. Send Harry and Sirius to Hogwarts. The Ministry aren't exactly the brightest sparks in the storm, you see.**

**Keira: Yay! It's interesting!**

**Eric2: Okay, I'll continue!**

**Shadowface: Well, in that case, I hope the story's good.**

**ciberloco: Glad you liked to twist!**

**Masha Malfoy: I plan to write more. Lots and lots more.**

**thehappydementor: I intend to write more chapters! Thanks alot about my writing style! It;s good to know it's good!**


	3. Arrival At Hogwarts

**Chapter three - Arrival at Hogwarts**

_A nine-year-old Harry shivered as a dementor came close to the cell. They rarely did, as per orders of the Minister who, though wanting Sirius to pay for his 'crime', he did not want to expose the world's saviour to them anymore than necessary._

"_Cold, kiddo?" Sirius asked in concern. Harry shook his head. "The dementors?" Harry nodded._

_Sirius hugged Harry tightly._

"_Want me to tell you some more about Hogwarts?"_

"_Y-you've already told me l-loads," Harry gave a weak attempt at a smile - especially for a nine year old. "W-what's left to tell?"_

"_Lots, I'm sure of it! Have told you about... the founders?" Harry nodded. "The professors who taught me?" Harry nodded. Sirius frowned. "Hogsmeade? The secret passage ways?" Harry nodded at both. "Err... the houses?"_

_Harry shook his head at this, and Sirius felt relieved. Harry was like his parents in several ways. He was like James because of his looks, and Lily because of his memory. But that certainly didn't explain his personality. Somehow Harry had always managed to convince the guards to give the two of them more food, or that they hadn't been given any, something which Sirius was sure Lily and James would never had been able to do._

"_Well, first there's Gryffindor, the home of the brave. We rule."_

_Harry laughed at that. It was something that was wholly Sirius._

"_Then there's Ravenclaw, they're the clever ones. They read way too much. Hufflepuff's another house, for the loyal and hard working. They're no good at Quidditch."_

_Harry rolled his eyes at that. Though only nine and rarely having left his cell, he knew all about Quidditch, curtesy of the resident Quidditch nut and his Godfather._

"_And Slytherin, last of all. The people with dreams of taking over the world go there. Basically they turn out evil wizards and no other house does."_

"_How come no other house turns out evil wizards?"_

"_I think it might be because they are the only ones who get involved in the Dark Arts or become Dark Lords."_

"_But a while ago you told me Grindelwald was a Ravenclaw," asked Harry curiously and Sirius' eyes widened. That was true. Grindelwald had been in Ravenclaw. "And you said that Wormtail was a Gryffindor."_

_Again, Harry was right. He hadn't thought about it like that before. Wormtail had been a Gryffindor, though why he had been one was a reason beyond anything anyone could explain._

"_I..." Sirius was stumped. "It's probably because their house founder was the one who hated muggles and muggleborns. He was the one who left the school too."_

"_Oh," Harry digested this bit of information. "So the entire house is made out to be evil because of one person?"_

"_Erm," Sirius was slightly stunned at that. "I suppose so."_

"_Well that's just ridiculous!" Harry laughed. "Completely stupid too!"_

Harry was shook awake by Sirius on September the first and he noted that the guards had arrived outside the cell to take both Harry and Sirius to the Governors office. Still blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he watched as the guards shrunk his books and held them in a single hand, whilst another magically bound Sirius's hands behind his back.

After leaving the cell, Harry was guided in a different direction to Sirius. Harry was taken towards the office whilst Sirius was lead off towards the entrance. Harry would be travelling to the nearest floo port to King's Cross, and from there he would take the train to Hogwarts. Sirius would take a boat back to the mainland where he would be transported to Hogwarts through non-magical transport, simply for what was considered the safety of the general wizarding public.

As they went off in different directions, the two of them looked back at one another, and instantly missing one another. The both knew the feeling would pass, but that did not alter it at all.

Sirius closed his eyes as he was lead down to the docks outside the rpsion, shivering slightly at the chill in the air outside. It had been ten long years since he had left the confines of the prison, and just the feel of fresh, cool breeze (something that the wards surrounding the prison prevented) against his skin was one of the best things to have happened to him in a long time.

"Move it Black," growled one of the guards, and Sirius was pulled out of his slight daydream as he was shoved in a boat. The boat was pushed off, and the traditional skeletonal figure that guided the boat directed it through the choppy waters towards their destination that was about two miles away: the main land.

The journey took a while, and Sirius was glad that the guards hadn't given him anything to eat that morning. If they had, Sirius felt he would have thrown it up in no time at all. Sirius hated travelling by sea.

It was with great relief when Sirius was dragged off the boat and onto the flat, stony beach that surrounded the area, but before he could get used to it, he was forced up some steps cut into the greyish cliffs and into a high-security carriage at the top. The door closed, and Sirius was shut into total darkness. He closed his eyes as the carriage set off, hoping that it would be over soon.

* * *

Harry glanced nervously around Kings Cross station, having been escorted just to the station by the guard, but then left on his own, the guard having told him what platform he needed, though not how to get onto it. Typically, the wizarding world seemed to want to leave new students to figure out how to get onto the platform for themselves. They probably either assumed it would be obvious how to or that people would be smart enough to figure it out for themselves.

He racked his brains for a moment or two, trying to work out where Platform Nine and Three Quarters was likely to be. It wouldn't be in view of muggles, and definately not made by them, as he doubted that any muggle would name a platform 'Nine and three-quarters'. They preferred their whole numbers.

"Are you lost sonny?" came the stern voice of a muggle dressed in navy blue. Harry vaguely recalled Sirius having told him something about 'pleasemen', the muggle law keepers. Harry shook his head. "Are you sure?"

"Y-Yes sir," Harry said quietly, his old stutter coming back momentarily. "I-I'm not l-lost."

The pleaseman nodded suspiciously and walked away, still eyeing Harry. Harry shuddered under his gaze. Something always unnerved Harry when people stared at him.

Harry walked around the station a bit more, glad that there was still at least an hour to go before the train set off, until he decided that if he was going to have trouble figuring out where the station was, he might as well sit down and work it out.

He knew that the wizarding world wasn't the most logical of places, but there were small amounts of it in places, usually put in place by muggleborns, Sirius had told him. So there was a large chance that the platform would be located somewhere really stupid (like the twelth bathroom stall to the left of the entrance to one of the toilets and was only accessable if you knocked five times in the correct spots at 59 seconds past the start of a minute and walked through backwards whilst doing a handstand - the mental image of that alone was ridiculous) if a pureblood had thought of where to place it, but if a muggleborn had placed it it would be more likely to be in a logical place. Like inbetween platforms nine and ten.

Harry's eyes lit up, and he grabbed his trunk, instantly moving straight towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. It was clear that this would be a good place to put the platform. And if it didn't work he could always try out the the bathroom stall idea later.

Harry was jostled by people as he walked towards the barrier, struggling slightly to push his through the crowd, which inadvertently lessened as he got closer to the barrier. Finally he pushed through the barrier, still shocked that he had been right about it.

In front of Harry on the platform there were few people about, probably all planning on arriving later. Beside the platform there was a huge scarlet - thing! Harry guessed it was a train, but it tooked nothing like what Sirius had described it as besides it's colour, and it looked nothing like the trains that had been on the muggle part of the platform.

Harry forced his face to stay emotionless as he pushed his trolley closer to the train, but his mind clouded with anger. He might have known something about trains had Sirius been given at least a trial. As he climbed onto the train his anger peaked, and, unbeknownst to him, on the muggle part of Kings Cross several muggles' teas and coffees exploded upward for no apparent reason.

* * *

"Black!" snapped a voice through the semi-gloom. "Get up!"

It took one and a half hours for Sirius to arrive at Hogwarts whilst travelling at relatively slow speeds, and during that time Sirius had fallen asleep. Now he saw that the door was open and that one of the guards stood there, his wand pointed directly at Sirius. Sirius groaned, and tried to stretch his arms, then remembered they were still bound behind his back.

"Black, I believe you have been told how things will work whilst you remain here," the guard said tersely as he and two or three colleagues marched Sirius up to the doors to the entrance hall, the surroundings looking as familiar and amazing as the last time he had seen them. "That you and Potter will remain here until Christmas, and from Christmas until Summer for the next seven years?"

Sirius nodded. Yes, that was the plan, and it may have been Sirius's imagination, but the Aurors and the guards that were with him did not seem to like it. It was probably that they thought it was too much trouble and would most likely be easier if Sirius was to simply to stay at Azkaban. No doubt this was true, but that would mean that either both Sirius and Harry would spend a lot of time in pain or that Harry would not have an education. They probably had not thought about that bit of information or they did not care. It was quite possible that it was the latter.

One of the guards in front of Sirius knocked on the huge oak dors three times at a seemingly measured pace. The doors were opened by someone Sirius knew very well, very well indeed. But that didn't mean that he was happy to see them. That person took one look at Sirius, and sneered.

"Black."

Sirius struggled to get at the person before him, totally ignoring the fact that he was surrounded by guards and aurors who would not hesitate to render him unconcious, even if it weren't necessary.

"Snape," Sirius snarled and glared.

* * *

Harry sat with his eyes closed and his back leaning against the seat as the train sped along. At first he had been interested in watching the scenery, but that soon changed as he realised that it was nothing more than buildings in London and trees, grass, fields, animals and hedges in the countryside. Nothing worth staring at.

Hopefully he would not be disturbed during the journey, but what with approximately one thousand others on the train, which seemed like a number that was far to large for a single train to carry, he doubted very much that he could possibly survive a journey that was several without someone coming into his compartment uninvited.

Harry had long forgotten the furry he had felt at the train station, but that did not mean that his anger had died down completely. The way he saw it, the fact that the Ministry of Magic was stupid enough to imprison a one year old child in Azkaban was horrendous, but the fact they had done so without even giving the person with whom they were imprisoning him with without a trial just took the cake. Harry did not believe there was a word for feeble-mindedness of that level.

Harry did his best to stifle a yawn. He wasn't used to waking so early in Azkaban, usually he slept a lot. Besides talking to Sirius, sitting and staring at the opposite wall and eating, he hadn't exactly had a lot to do at all, so sleeping might be a good idea. Yeeesss...

Just as Harry was about to drop off the door to the compartment opened up to reveal three boys, two identical from their ginger hair to their freckled faces, the other boy had dark dredlocks and was holding a box that's lid had come loose and had one large hairy leg sticking out of it. The boy with dredlocks saw what he was looking at, hit the leg then shut the lid properly.

"Do you mind if-" said one of the redheads.

"We sit in here?" finished the other, and Harry summarised that they were twins. They talked like they were without a doubt. Harry nodded his acquiescence and all three of them sat down and started talking in voices so quick that Harry didn't even try to follow. Instead he tried to go back to sleep, and managed it, as before he knew it an irritatingly cheerful voice pierced through the air.

"_We shall be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave you luggage on the train, as it will be taken to the school separately."_

Harry blinked. That was one of the shortest several hundred mile journeys he had ever been on that didn't involve floopowder. Come to think of it, it was the only several hundred mile journey that didn't involve floopowder that he had ever been on.

Harry blinked as he got up, and suddenly his stomach lurched with nerves as he joined the crowd thronging through the corridor.

The train slowed right to a stop and people pushed their way to the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Many were shivering from the cold, but Harry felt fine. It had gotten a lot colder in Azkaban, and to him, this felt warm. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and a voice boomed out.

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

That voice belonged to a giant of a man who was at least five times as tall and twice as wide a normal person should be. That must be Hagrid, Harry thought. Sirius had described him, and Harry was pretty certain that no one else could fit his description.

"C'mon, follow me - anymore firs-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs-years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, the crowd of first years followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path that didn't seem to have been walked along too often. It was dark on either side, and against the dark sky Harry could make out the silhouettes of trees.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' site o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over their heads. "Jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud 'Oooooooooh!'.

The path they were on had suddenly widens on to the edge of a great black lake. Perched on top of a grassy hill, many windows sparkling merrily in the light, was Hogwarts, just how Sirius had described it, though no words could do it justice.

Harry felt another pang of anger towards the Ministry, similarly to the one he had felt earlier at the train station. Had Sirius not been imprisoned, Sirius would, in all likiness, have taken Harry to see sights such as this. Instead he had rarely seen outside the prison, and that was only when he had been taken to Diagon Alley. His rage and resentment towards the wizarding government growing with each passing second, Harry joined to remainder of the first years as they got into the little boats that would take them across to the castle.

**A/N: Well everyone, I must say, when I put up the first chapter I got8 reviews, I was shocked at the number. But in the just over 2 months since the last update, I got 19 reviews. I'm starting to think some people like this idea.**

**Oh yeah, next chapter Harry will be sorted. So far it looks like most people would prefer a Gryffindor Harry in this, and no one wants a Slytherin one. Ah well, time will tell. As for his friends, the juries still way out on that one.**

**Talons: You have good reasoning. And yes, Harry can read and write. I said so this chapter.**

**blubb-blubb: You're right, Snape can't complain about Harry being spoiled rotten. But he can complain about some other things.**

**niccc: The unfortunate thing about the original ideas in fanfiction is that they are few and far between, because people just don't ask the right questions about it. You have a good point about Harry's personality, but I've always felt that the way you're brought up and such can alter your personality a bit. Not completely alter it, but still parts of it would be different.**

**Eric2: No, Sirius will be locked up inside Hogwarts. The wizarding world has never been logical as far as I'm concerned. As for Peter, I feel this chapter has answered that.**

**ciberloco: Good idea about the flashbacks. They are now in use. As are the consequences.**

**kid: Good point about him being raised by Sirius, but as the start of this chapter showed, he isn't exactly prejudiced against Slytherins yet.**

**Goldgrin: Lol, great! And from the personality of Harry's I've let show parts of so far, it seems like this Harry and Hermione would be likely to get along.And currently, I have no plans for this story except to reveal Harry's upbringing in Azkaban, so virtually no plans could interfere with them.**

**Shannon: Lol, I always percieved Draco as being intelligent, even if he is a bit of a... and this is the point I can't think up an insult without swearing. You should know that there's no such thing as too much of a twist. Unless you're twisting someone's arm, andit breaks... But a Gryffindor Harry with mainly Slytherin friends would be a good twist.**

**ERMonkey Burner of Cookies: You have a good point. That is why I have now given Harry a personality.**

**Valkyrie Nienna Helyanwe: Very good points... Careful consideration is needed on my part.**

**Maya100: So you basically want to know lots of stuff about this fic? Well, I suppose I could use flashbacks for that.**

**Shadowface: Okay.**

**scott, momocolady, Silver-Entrantress-Elf, gaul1: Thanks!**

**gallandro-83: Actually, Harry's 11. But if I hadn't known that, I would have been likely to have been confused too.**

**Thamril: Hmm, good choices about his friends. I may use some of them.**

**typicaltuesday: Lol, you seem to want Harry in Ravenclaw. Nice ideas with the friends too.**


	4. Sorted

**Chapter four - Sorted**

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid after Harry had clambered into a boat with a pink-faced blond girl, and a set of twin girls. "Right then- FORWARD!"

The fleet of boats set off across the lake, leaving ripples in their wake. Absolute silence reigned over then. Harry just stared focusedly at the castle overhead, particularly one single lighted window, several windows up and across from where the bright lights of the Entrance Hall and Great Hall were. That single light was where Sirius was. He just knew it. And, in a couple of hours, it would be where he would be, regardless of which house he would be sorted into.

"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as the boats reached a cliff on which Hogwarts stood. The boats carried them through a curtain of ivy and along a dark tunnel, one very similar to the halls of Azkaban. Harry shivered slightly from the cold and several memories, but recovered quickly enough. It definitely didn't do to dwell on memories like that.

The boats reached an underground harbour and thudded to a stop at a beach covered in pebbles, rocks and shells.

"Oy! You there! Is this your toad?" called out over everyone's heads as they clambered out of the boats. A joyful cry of 'Trevor' came from one of the boys, who held out his hands.

The group of first years clambered up the rocks through a passageway after Hagrid's lamps. By the time they reached the top of a set of steps, Harry's knees were cut and bruised from the numerous falls. Privately he wondered if they had ever through of making it safer down here. But if these were the same kind of people who would place a baby in literally hell on earth for years, then it would come as no surprise if they didn't.

At the top of a gigantic set of stone steps they came upon a set of huge, oak, front doors. Hagrid raised one gigantic fist to the doors, and knocked loudly three times on the doors.

The door flew open at once and a witch with an expression that put some of the human guards of Azkaban to shame stood there. Harry's first thought was to never cross this woman if he valued his house.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here."

Professor McGonagall pulled the door open wide and gave them access to the Entrance Hall. It was, for lack of a better word, big. It was bigger than any of the other rooms Harry had been in before, and for some reason he began to suspect that the Great Hall would be even bigger.

Professor McGonagall led them across the hall and into a small, empty chamber off the hall. The first years crowded in, mostly standing closely together, though Harry, uncomfortable with how close the other students were, managed to get to the edge of the crowd and closer to a stone wall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room.

"The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

McGonagall's eyes lingered on lingered on smudge on a red-haired boy's nose, and on the cloak of the boy who had claimed the toad, the cloak being now attached to his eye and his toad trying to hop out of the boys pocket.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

McGonagall left the chamber, and instantaneously babble broke out among the first year, most of which concerned the sorting. Sirius hadn't told Harry much about the sorting, but he knew it would not be something that could kill students, or prove the slightest bit dangerous to them. If it did, how would they have any students left?

However they were sorted, though, it would not have something to do with a troll, as the redhead with the smudge on his nose said his brother had told him. The very idea... Harry shook his head in disbelief. How many people could be that gullible?

From the edge of the crowd, Harry did not notice as quickly as other students when a crowd of ghosts floated through the opposite wall, though once they screamed it was the first thing he had seen.

The group of them, about 20 all told, were talking to one another, seemingly not noticing the first years. All of them seemed to be taking part or listening to the discussion (or more likely argument) that they were having.

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost-I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing ruffs and tights (Nearly Headless Nick, Harry vaguely remembered Sirius saying once) had noticed the first years. Nobody answered him.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose? Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old House, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the wall above Harry.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Though Harry's legs felt as if they had turned to lead, he forced himself into the single file line and walk with the other first years into the Great Hall.

Through a pair of double doors, Harry felt his anger build up again as he saw the smiling, cheerful faces stare at the first years like they were on display or something. These children, Harry thought, totally disregarding the fact that they were all older than him, had probably never gone through anything in their lives that could be described as pain. He doubted many had even lost a close relative.

As the line of first years walked along the pace between the two centre tables, Harry's anger grew even more. Unnoticed behind them, several candles, thousands of which were floating in the air above the tables, were snuffed out, but relit seconds later.

Minutes passed once they got to the front of the hall and formed a line in front of the head table, Professor McGonagall having placed a hat and stool on the floor in front of them. Finally, after everyone in the hall patiently stared unblinkingly at the hat, it burst into song.

The entire Hall burst into applause once the hat finished singing, but Harry just stared at the hat for a moment. Why had Sirius kept a singing hat a mystery? Sure, it was traditional that no one knew how students were sorted before the sorting took place, but that tradition held no logic. All it was was a hat.

Professor McGonagall stepped forwards once the applause died down, and Harry was shaken from his thoughts.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said, holding a piece of parchment. "Abbott, Hannah!"

The pink faced blond girl who had been in the same boat as Harry earlier scurried forwards and placed the hat on her head. Just before it declared the girl to be a Hufflepuff, a horrid, illogical thought struck Harry. What if he was a squib? He and Sirius would have to go back to Azkaban. He couldn't go back just yet, he just couldn't. Panic started to set in, and Harry's breathing increased as his stomach started to dance.

Steadily the numbers of first years in the line decreased as more and more students were sorted, and Harry felt himself begin to turn green, as some of the others left in the line were. Finally, when there were just five students left, Harry's name was called.

Harry stepped forwards and whispers broke out like wildfire across the Hall.

"Potter, did she say?"

"_The_ Harry Potter?"

"The Azkaban Boy?"

As the hat was dropped over his head, the last thing Harry saw was a hall full of people craning their necks to get a good look at him. Then it was just the peaceful blackness of the inside of the hat.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "You're a difficult one, aren't you? Very unique. Hard to sort too, no doubt. You have talent that much is for sure, but as for the rest... Oh, you're a cunning one for certain and brave to a tee. A sharp mind and loyal beyond a shadow of a doubt... but where do you belong?"

Harry kept quiet, not wanting to interfere. The hat would place him where it felt he would be best suited. Though, despite this, and the fact he knew that dark wizards didn't all come from Slytherin, he couldn't help but hope that he wouldn't be a Slytherin himself. He didn't think he could take the world's prejudice against them if he was one. It was already bad enough to have grown up in Azkaban. People didn't want to know him as it was for the most part. Slytherin would ensure nobody ever would.

The hat chuckled. "Ah, young Mister Potter, it looks like the house of snakes is out for you. They would never accept someone who didn't wish to be one of them."

Harry stiffened, then relaxed. The hat was silent for a moment or two, apparently contemplating where Harry should go.

"The Gryffindors would not accept you for who you are. They are far too naïve to the world to understand you. So, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff?

"Logic is strong within you child, as is your thirst for knowledge. But, somehow, I do not feel you would get along with others like that. You would feel as if they were studying you constantly, correct?"

Harry silently agreed with the hat. Being in Ravenclaw would constantly make him feel as if he was the result of a freak experiment, not a living, breathing person who could tell what they were doing. But that would leave...

"You have your doubts about the badgers too, I see. Your loyalty is immense, but your anger, that is exponential, that may hold you back... with all this in mind, it seems that you would fit best into the house of HUFFLEPUFF!"

As the last word was shouted and Harry pulled the hat from his head, a stunned silence met his ears. Slowly as he walked towards his new house, whispers erupted, all of them slowly getting loudly, until, finally, they erupted into cheers from Hufflepuff, and the occasional polite clapping from the other houses. Silently he sank down as the Ravenclaws from the next tables stared at him curiously. Suddenly he felt glad that he hadn't been placed there.

But that wasn't to say that members of other houses weren't staring at him. On the contrary, they were, but they were mostly focused on the fact he was a Hufflepuff. Trying to sink down as far as possible in his seat, Harry waited for the cheering to die down and the next student to be sorted.

**A/N: Okay, most people generally wanted a Gryffindor Harry, or a Ravenclaw or Slytherin one, but how many Hufflepuff Harry's can you say you've read about? Virtually none, I'll bet, or very few at least. Okay, onto reviews.**

**ERMonkey Burner of Cookies: Lol. This soon enough?**

**Shadowed Rains: Well, I'm afraid I don't believe in revealing a plot beforehand, however, I will say this: The rat will be useful for something within a very short amount of time.**

**ciberloco: Aw, that's sweet. Yeah, Snape will be more bitchy, purely for my own amusement. **

**Heala: Lol, sorry, Hufflepuff, not Slytherin.**

**C'mon: No reason for Harry not being a slyth, though he definitely wouldn't completely fit in.**

**Virginia Riddle-Malfoy: Oooh, interesting idea. I like it.**

**ura-hd: Thanks**

**Eric2: Hmmm, that would be a good plan. But I can still probably get away with having Harry discover Scabbers as Wormtail.**

**angelkitty77: Lol, people seemed to have suddenly wanted that.**

**Haley Carr: Well, you're one of the people who wanted Hufflepuff. And as to writing when I think I'll get the next chapter up... I'm afraid I never have any ideas, but I think I'll try and update something like once a week now.**

**HoshiHikari: Well, it may be sticking to the plot for the moment, but that will change, and hopefully soon.**

**methoslover: Lol, sorry, Slytherin may be the only house which would understand Harry, but I placed Harry in Hufflepuff for a twist.**

**Jedi-Bant: Hufflepuff may not work, but I don't necessarily want it to totally work.**

**gaul1: Well, now you know what house.**

**Talons: You know, for some reason you come across to me as a Ravenclaw supporter.**

**Shadowface: Thanks!**

**hpsleuth: Thanks a lot!**

**ASquealinfgYaoiFanGirl: Thank you.**

**Xylia Dark: I should be running soon then. Oh, and Harry may become friends with the twins.**


	5. Fainting Spells

**Chapter five - Fainting Spells**

The other four first year students were sorted quickly enough, Dumbledore made a ridiculous speech using four, as far as Harry was aware, made up words, and the feast began.

Harry looked down at the food all over the table, that including everything from sprouts to roast chicken to humbugs, normally it would have made Harry's mouth watered. However, merely looking at it alone, completely disregarding the smell, Harry felt queasy, like his was going to throw up at any moment. He looked up, and tried to focus his attention onto something else, but all he could see was the other students eating, a sight that only made him feel worse.

"Are you alright?" asked an older student, one slightly bolder, it seemed, than the rest and covered with a fair few spots. Several other students near him had expressions of concern on their faces, as did the girl who spoke to him.

"N-no, not really," Harry said, swallowing. "I r-really don't feel too good at all..."

And with that Harry fainted and chaos erupted from the Hufflepuff table, fearing whatever had caused one of their number to faint was within the food or something.

The Ravenclaws, Gryffindors and Slytherins stared at their schoolmates, wondering what the matter was. The professors did too, and then it seemed Dumbledore understood.

"Quiet!" Dumbledore roared as the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables caught sight of the unconscious Harry Potter and started to panic as well. Every panicker within the Hall stopped immediately and stared at him. "Professor Sprout, please take Mr Potter to the Hospital Wing. Professor Snape, check on Black. This may have something to do with their bond."

* * *

Severus Snape growled as he stalked through the halls of Hogwarts. Trust a Potter to do something like this, fainting at the Welcoming feast. It was one of the most moronic ideas he had ever heard of, and was most probably an act, especially considering that _Sirius_ bloody _Black_ was involved. It wouldn't have surprised him if Black had put Potter up to this, as a joke. 

Oh yes, that would be about right. Snape could just imagine the two of them having planned it the night before, to get one over on the school. It would just be the kind of thing Black would do. The mutt had always loved to joke around, and somehow Snape doubted that any amount of time in Azkaban had changed that. No doubt that because the Potter boy had spent his entire childhood around Black the boy loved to joke around too. Oh yes, he could just imagine it. Black and a five year old Harry Potter pranking human and dementor guards of Azkaban alike.

No, Snape thought with a smirk. That thought was completely ridiculous. They wouldn't prank dementors; they wouldn't have gotten any reaction at all from the soul suckers, besides perhaps a large amount of their emotions eaten up. Oh yes, that would sound about right.

The Potions Master turned a corner, and a thought came to his mind. It was not an unpleasant thought; if anything it was one of the most pleasant thoughts he had had come into his head in a long time. The thought was that maybe karma did exist. It was a muggle idea, but then muggles, as much as he was loathed to admit it, did seem to know a lot more about the world than wizards. Perhaps karma was one of the things that muggles knew to be true that wizards had never even thought about.

It did seem plausible though, looking at the way things seemed to have gone for Black over the years. Karma was, from what Snape understood, basically cosmic payback for things people did wrong. If Karma did exist, that it certainly existed in Black. The mongrel had made Snape's life hell during the school year when they had both been attending Hogwarts, and Black had spent the last ten years going through hell in a place where most went insane or committed suicide within a year. Usually both. Oh yes, life could be cruel, Snape knew, but life could also be one of your best friends who sought revenge for a lot of wrong-doings against you.

Snape unlocked the doors which lead to the room which would serve as Black's cell during the time he and Potter were at Hogwarts and pushed the door open, wand raised in front of him. Black was a dangerous criminal, that much wizarding law stated, so it was better to be safe than sorry. Who knew it Black was crazy enough to attack him as the door opened?

However, despite what Snape thought of Sirius, the convict was not poised to attack whoever entered to room. Instead Sirius was lying on the floor, his breath ragged, eyes glazed, and seemingly in a large amount of pain, so much pain that it might be impossible for him to make a sound at all.

Snape was shocked at the sight of the person before him. Only earlier than day he hadn't seemed too bad off. Sirius had been slightly underweight, and had had a look in his eyes that anyone who had spent time as an inmate of the wizard prison did, but that was all. What could have caused such a rapid decline in health?

Then Dumbledore's last words came back to him: '_This may have something to do with their bond.'_

Snape had assumed that the bond the two of them shared was purely imagined, as in didn't exist and had merely been a way for Black to get off more lightly for the betrayal of Potter's parents to Voldemort. Snape did know that magical bonds could sometimes be formed, but they were rare. Now it seemed like the bond was a very real thing and was currently proving its existence in protestation for being separated from the other half of it.

"Black?" murmured Snape, getting slightly over his shock at the sight of the one person he hated most in the world to speak one word. The glazed over eyes looked in Snape's general direction, and Sirius opened his mouth and let out one ragged breath.

Snape stumbled backwards at that. Black had heard him, by God; the mutt had heard him, which meant he was still probably coherent. But Black was also close to dying too. And that meant Potter would be too unless that two of them were brought together anytime soon. And that meant that if Potter was to die then the saviour would be gone and any chance of combating the Dark Lord should he rise again would be lost. That was not good. That was definitely not good.

Snape did then what he felt anyone would do when faced with a situation such as this: he bolted.

* * *

Madam Promfrey scowled as the doors of the Hospital Wing were flung open, but turned back to the student in front of her. Professor Sprout looked up at the people, or rather person, who entered. 

"Poppy," said the person, Snape. "Black's in the same shape as Potter, only conscious."

Madam Promfrey stopped and turned to Snape. She stared at him for a while, seemingly unaware of what was going on, a look of shock on her face, going pale at the same time. Within moments she matched Snape for paleness.

"Poppy," whispered Professor Sprout urgently. "What is the matter?"

Madam Promfrey shook her head and turned back to Harry. She didn't say a word for a minute or two, then spoke.

"Someone needs to take Potter back up to where he and Black are staying. It looks like people overestimated how long the two of them can be apart. Someone also needs to send food up to them."

"I'll do it," said Sprout before Snape could have had the chance to say anything, as unlikely as that was to happen. Despite having spent his entire childhood in Azkaban, the boy was still a Potter, and a Hufflepuff at that.

Professor Sprout took Harry to the room he would be sharing with Sirius, and within moments of the two of them being reunited they were fine. As soon as she left, Sirius pulled Harry into a hug. Harry went stiff from shock for a moment, then relaxed, confused. 

"Um, Sirius?" Harry said. "What's wrong?"

"Harry, do you remember the last time the two of us were separated for so long the bond started to effect us?" said Sirius after a moment or two. Harry shook his head, and the older of the two sighed. "How much do you remember from the riot a few years ago?"

Harry frowned, and thought back.

_People were yelling and chanting outside the cell. Harry wasn't sure, and when he had asked Sirius, he hadn't known either how anyone had gotten out of their cell, or why they had freed others rather than just saving their own skin. Perhaps they thought they'd be better off in a group, or maybe that if enough of them were freed they could take on the guards. That didn't seem likely though. There was probably far more guards than there were prisoners._

_The yelling and chanting outside the cell had reached a fever pitch, and Harry huddled closer to Sirius. Either there were more people in the jail than Harry had thought or they were getting closer. Harry hoped it was neither. He just didn't like the sound of it._

_There was a maniacal laughing directly outside their cell this time, and the gaunt face of a dark haired woman peered in, a sneer on her face. She laughed harder when she saw them. Sirius growled._

_What do you want Bellatrix?" he snarled at her. The woman, Bellatrix, didn't appear to have heard him, as she carried on laughing for a while._

"_Poor ickle cousin of mine, all locked in a cell he can't get out off," she laughed harder when she thought of this, for some reason Harry couldn't think of. It wasn't funny at all; it wasn't even a really bad joke. "All locked up with wittle baby Pwotter!"_

_Again she laughed, and didn't stop until one of the guards came along and stunned her. The guard looked in the cell, and he looked surprised at the fact that they were both still there. Or maybe he was just surprised that Sirius was still there. Either way it didn't matter, because within seconds he had opened the cell door._

"_Black, you're to stay here. I've got orders to take Potter and only Potter up to the Governor's office."_

_As Harry walked through the wizard prison with the guard he was shocked by the sheer number of people in the prison, most of them wearing prison robes. There were hundreds! How could so many people exist in one place? With most of them there against their will?_

Harry remembered that that had been the first time he had seen the outside of his and Sirius' cell in his memory, and also the first time he had seen so many people. But what was funny was he couldn't remember much from once he had entered the Governor's office. Only sitting around for what had seemed like hours, waiting for the riot to be over, and then being back at the cell. Harry couldn't even remember walking back to it.

"I can remember awhile after having been taken to the Governor's office, and then I remember being back at the cell..." Harry responded after a moment or two being lost in his memories. Sirius looked at him, grief plain in his eyes, for one long, quiet minute before responding.

"That night you almost died because we had been apart so long, we both did," Sirius finally said, filling the silence. "You were unconscious for the entire time Harry, but I wasn't and I could feel everything that you would have felt had you been awake. It hurt like hell."

Sirius gave Harry an uneasy smile, Harry just stared, wide-eyed.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"How do you tell a seven year old they just almost died?"

Harry frowned for a moment. Sirius had a good point. How do you tell a seven year old they just almost died? But Sirius still should have told him. Sirius had told him a lot of other things that most wouldn't have told a child, why was this any different?

**A/N: Well, I have to apologise over how long this chapter took, but for some inexplicable reason it decided it didn't want to co-operate. That and recently I've had several blows to my confidence as a writer without also lowering the standard of what I expect myself to write at made me completely hate writing the majority of this chapter.**

**Talons: That is a good story now that I've read it. **

**Angui Dei, angelkitty77, ERMonkey Burner of Cookies, gaul1, bandgsecurtiyaw, GreyGranian, Galyax, azntgr01, missfitionlover, black blade: Thanks!**

**Haley Carr: I take it you're a Quidditch fan then? And should I ever get around to sorting out the Quidditch team, Harry may well be on it.**

**Shadowed Rains: It's funny how Hufflepuff Harry fics have only really started to pop up in the last few months or so, isn't it?**

**Serpent: Oh yay! I've lost a Hufflepuff hating reader! Somehow I can't bring myself to be distraught.**

**ugg: Let me get this straight, you thought my story made no sense, and think it was badly explained and planned.. yet you read all of what I put up instead of just stopping. Yep, that makes sense. And who said the entire wizarding civilisation put Harry through a childhood in Azkaban? It was just the ministry.**

**HoshiHikari: Harry's friends will almost all be different, I'm pretty sure of that.**

**XyliaDark: Somehow I don't think I could make Harry a wimp. And in my mind Harry plus twins equals trouble.**

**wow: Nah, Harry's a Hufflepuff through and through :quickly changes every copy of HP in the world so it's the truth:**

**maya100: Friends who accept him? That's a novel idea. And he is less naive than usual. I could hardly make him more naive, could I?**

**Shadowface: Don't worry, I will.**

**ak-alterego: Sirius'll be staying in the room he and Harry ended up in this chapter, Harry'll gets to shower, and I'm pretty sure Sirius will too. About Peter, he may not have been 'blown up' by Sirius, but Death Eaters aren't overly fond of him.**

**YumiAngel: And I may come up with my own characters. I'm not too sure yet.**


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